‘Hamilton's’ Leslie Odom Jr. brings fireworks to the Pops June 6-7, and July 4, too

Sunday

May 28, 2017 at 6:00 AM

By R. Scott Reedy, Correspondent

Leslie Odom Jr., is on a roll.

Last year, the performer won both a Tony and a Grammy for the Broadway blockbuster “Hamilton: An American Musical,” in which he originated the role of Aaron Burr.

And this year, he’ll make his debut with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall on June 6 with a concert that repeats June 7 for “Presidents at the Pops.” Odom will be back July 4, too, when he headlines the 2017 Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular, along with fellow guest artists Andy Grammer and Melissa Etheridge, on the Esplanade.

“I’ll definitely do stuff from ‘Hamilton’ because I don’t want people going home unhappy. And as a singer, the ‘Hamilton’ songs are gold,” said Odom, 35, by telephone last week from his home in Los Angeles while discussing his Pops set list.

“Being on stage in front of the magnificent Boston Pops isn’t an everyday occurrence for me, so I’ll also be doing some sock-it-to-me Rat Pack stuff.”

Odom socked it to New York audiences as Burr – the nation’s third vice president and the man who famously killed his political rival, Alexander Hamilton, in an 1804 duel – in the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning show with music, lyrics, and book by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who also originated the title role.

“‘Hamilton’ exceeded every expectation. It was so well-made and well-crafted that it really moved me forward in my career and my life,” says Odom. “You didn’t need to use any silly tricks doing that show. So I stripped away all the nonsense and found out what I was made of as an artist.”

“There’s never been a role just like Aaron Burr. He’s a serious political strategist and a villain, of course, but he’s also a caring father. It’s one of the greatest parts I’ve ever seen written for a man, certainly for a man of color.”

It couldn’t have come along at a better time, either, for the Carnegie Mellon University graduate whose prior Broadway credits include “Rent” and the short-lived “Leap of Faith.” He also played Broadway performer Sam Strickland in the NBC-TV series “Smash.”

“Right before ‘Smash,’ I was 30 and I had been kicking around LA for almost 10 years. I couldn’t make sense of it. There were some good experiences, including recurring TV roles, but also some lean times. Those of us who freelance understand this – I was sick of the uncertainty and about to start looking for a job as a hotel clerk,” explains Odom.

“Then I met with a mentor out here and he helped set me straight. Stuart K. Robinson is a well-respected commercial acting coach and now my father-in-law.

“He said, ‘I can tell that you’re frustrated. And I’m hearing that you may want to quit. That’s fine and I’ll help you make that transition if that’s what you really want. But I’d love to see you try before you quit.’ I asked him what he meant. He said, ‘I think you have great auditions. I think when your phone rings you show up and do a great job.

“‘But what are you doing the rest of the time? What did you do today? Do people know that you’re out of work? What are you working on in your free time?’ Because of the infrastructure of agents and managers, that kind of personal responsibility hadn’t occurred to me. Now, I thank God every day for the advice Stuart gave me.”

By 2013, Odom had landed a leading role in the Katherine Heigl series “State of Affairs.” Before the show went into production, however, Odom asked to be let out of his contract.

That same year, Miranda had invited him to participate in a workshop of the sung-through musical that became “Hamilton,” the story of one of the founding fathers of the United States and the first secretary of the Treasury.

Odom had been in the audience at an earlier reading of the musical’s first act at Vassar’s Powerhouse Theater and it moved him to tears. He was determined to play Burr and he did, from the show’s sold-out 2015 off-Broadway run at the Public Theater through its Broadway transfer to the Richard Rodgers Theatre in August 2015, and for the year that followed.

Since putting down Burr’s dueling pistol, Odom – who released two albums, “Leslie Odom, Jr.” and “Simply Christmas,” in 2016 – has been doing concerts.

“On Broadway, I got to play a character and to lean on my very talented cast mates. Stepping out as Leslie Odom Jr., is a new challenge, but I relish the idea of being afraid again and working in a new way.”

And when he hasn’t been on the concert stage, he has been in London filming a remake of Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express,” which is set to open at Thanksgiving.

“The opportunity to work with a director like Kenneth Branagh, and to see Johnny Depp, Dame Judi Dench, Penelope Cruz, Derek Jacobi and Michelle Pfeiffer all in process, up close, was just amazing. I can’t say too much about my character, Dr. Arbuthnot, because everyone’s a suspect. But I do like him a lot.”

A Broadway triumph, major awards, concerts, albums, and movies aside, there is one thing that happened to him recently that Odom says is in a category all its own – the birth of his daughter. He and wife, actress Nicolette Robinson, welcomed Lucille Ruby Odom on April 23.

“Lucy blows everything else out of the water,” says the proud father. “We got to know her first inside Nicolette’s belly and we’re getting to know her better now. She’s thriving. She’s rolling over. And she’s partying all night long. We love her so much. We can’t imagine our life without her.”

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